HELP!!!! Win XP won't start!!!!

[Guest]

HELP!!!

When I was about to start installing MSDN for Visual Studio 6, the installer
program hang. It hung so heavily that I couldn't even end the installer
through Ctrl+Alt+Delete. When I closed down the computer I got some error
(which I now can't remember), but I selected to close the program and then
the installer finally ended. But when I restarted Windows I get some message
like this:

Windows could not be started. This might depend on a change in soft- or
hardware.

"

If this depends on that the computer didn't answer, restarted unexpectedly
or was closed down automatically to protect your files and folders you can
choose "Last working configuration" to reset the settings which were used the
last time the computer successfully could be started.

If a previous startup was interrupted by a power cut .... or if you are not
sure why you computer cannot be started you can choose "Start Windows
normally".

Failsafe mode
Failsafe mode with network
Failsafe mode with command prompt

Last working configuration (the last settings which worked)

Start Windows normally

"

But it doesn't matter if I choose "Last working configuration" or "Start
Windows normally". Whichever I choose, all I can see is the Windows XP start
up screen with the progress bar. This progress stops quite soon after it
started and then the computer is restarted. What has happened here????

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

Try the recovery console, assuming you
have a retail version or full OEM version of XP as opposed to the
manufacturer's recovery disks that don't have this option though they might
offer their own recover
scenario.

Be sure your system is set to boot from the CD. If you are not sure, when
the system first boots you usually see message about how to enter setup or
something similar and tells you to hit a key, sometimes it's del, sometimes
it's esc, just hit the key. This takes you to the system bios, you need to
navigate to where the boot sequence is set, put the CD-ROM drive first in
line.

Place the XP CD in the drive, save your settings and exit. The system will
reboot and should boot from the CD. If you see a message to hit any key in
order to boot from the CD, do so, otherwise, assuming your system supports
it, the system should boot from the CD on its own as it can't find
an OS on the hard drive.

XP Setup will begin by examining your system, don't worry, just let it run,
it's just copying some files to a temp folder. Ultimately, you'll be
brought to a menu. Choose, "Repair a Windows XP installation using the
Recovery Console, press R.

You will be asked for an administrators password. This is not any of the
accounts you've created for XP. It's a hidden system account for which
users are asked only to create a password during setup. Most leave this
blank. If you left it blank, when asked for a password, just leave blank
and press enter.

At the prompt type bootcfg /rebuild and press enter.

If that fails, try a repair install as follows:

NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.

 

[Guest]

Thanks a lot Michael for your answer,

The

bootcfg /rebuild

returned an error similar to this:

Error: Couldn't search for Windows installations on the hard drives. This
error can depend on an erroneous file system which would mean that Bootcfg
cannot search through the hard drive correctly. Use chkdsk if you want to
search for disk errors.

I have quite a lot of data that is crucial to me, so I haven't dared to
start the "If that fails, try a repair restart as follows:" part since it
could mean that my data will be lost completely (as I understood, correct me
if I'm wrong).

 

[Guest]

What I wanted to ask is if there is any other, more safe, way to try to
recover?

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

There's already a possibility your data is lost. When I provide
information, I place things in order of how invasive and thus dangerous the
suggestion might be. In your case, you've tried many of the other things
and you are running out of options. A repair install usually keeps
everything in place but I wouldn't want you doing it without knowing you
might end up with a worst case scenario however, usually that would mean the
setup is irretrievably broken prior to the attempt since repair install has
been used by many including myself for as long as it has been available and
under most circumstances works quite well.

I hope you now understand the importance of regular backups as this
possibility would not even be an issue for you under those circumstances.
Nonetheless, since the Recovery Console option failed to resolve the issue
and returned the error you specified, I don't see that you have any other
option that at least has the possibility of allowing you to maintain your
data and applications while allowing you to repair setup. The next option
is a clean install, wiping the drive and starting over and that will indeed
cost you your data and applications.

A repair install should not do that, I only point out its a possibility.
Also, you must understand, these are peer to peer newsgroups with questions
and answers posted for the benefit of all. Even if you were well backed up,
I still would have posted the caution so other users who are lurking realize
the danger and backup to prevent them from having the same worry you just
expressed.

 

[Guest]

Thank you Michael,

What would I have done if there weren't people like you in these newsgroups.
I will give it a try and hope for the best.

Thanks again,
Joachim

 

[Guest]

Hmm.. I have a microsoft keyboard which have another preinstalled function
for the F8 key - so I cannot accept the agreement And I have no other
keyboard. Is there any way around this other than to borrow another keyboard
from somebody?

Thanks
Joachim

 

[Guest]

Ahhh... there was a way around it... (using the "F Lock" key)

 

[Guest]

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires
you
No Windows XP installation can be found! So I guess things are lost then?!

 

[Guest]

It also says that the whole memory of the hard drive is free... I guess that
is not a good sign... ;(

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

That's not a good sign but there's still one more option.

In some cases, you won't receive the repair option, only an option to
reinstall. We have discovered that sometimes this is caused by a damaged
boot.ini file that can be repaired as follows and also note, in the
instructions, "K" refers to the CD drive in which you have placed the XP CD,
replace that drive letter with the appropriate letter on your system, "K" is
simply an example.

Reboot, this time taking the immediate R option (this is the section I told
you to skip above. In this case, you will need to get to the Recovery
Console to perform the function below), and if the CD letter is say K: give
these commands

COPY K:\i386\ntldr C:
COPY K:\i386\ntdetect.com C:
(two other files needed - just in case)
ATTRIB -H -R -S C:\boot.ini
DEL C:\boot.ini
BootCfg /Rebuild

Once you've completed this function, reboot and see if you can access XP as
sometimes, the problem is the damaged boot.ini. If you still cannot access
XP then the only way out I see would be to start over with a clean install
as something appears to have irretrievably corrupted your setup.

Note, you might try installing XP to a separate partition, this may require
using third party software such as Partition Magic or System Commander.
Once installed, you then might be able to pull your data from the old setup
on the original partition.

 

[Guest]

When I try

COPY K:\i386\ntldr C:

I get an error message saying

Couldn't copy the file.

and when I try to run "dir" at C:\ I get an error message saying something
like

An error occurred doing folder counting.

I have tried to translate this from another language (Swedish), but I'm not
sure if it is an accurate translation. Does this give any more clues to what
the problem could be?

Thanks again,
Joachim

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

The only indication it gives me is that your setup is irretrievably broken.
Beyond starting over from scratch with a clean install or install to a
separate partition as I previously suggested, the only other thing I can
suggest is to have a trained technician look at your system.

 

[Guest]

I did succeed to recover my data finally, and this is how I did it:
1) I got hold of another hard drive (HD), call it A.
2) I set this HD as master and my crashed HD, call it B, as slave.
3) I install Win XP on drive A.
4) When Windows started, open a console and try to list the contents of
drive B.
5) If that doesn't work, run "chkdsk x: /f" (where x is the drive id of
drive B).
6) If you still can't list the contents of drive B after step 5, run step 5
again.
7) If you still can't list the contents of drive B after step 6, restart the
computer.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

Glad you were able to recover your data. Thanks for letting us know.